Television this year pushed the envelope further than it ever has before, whether it was ripping stories from the headlines (from art-imitating-life source material) or testing network television boundaries, we saw a lot more of what we haven’t before, with great results.

Here are the 10 best shows of 2017:

10

Feud: Bette & Joan

Yet another one of television master Ryan Murphy’s babies, Feud is set to be an anthology series following famous celebrity battles over the years. The first being Bette Davis vs. Joan Crawford, played by powerhouses Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange, respectively. Beautifully capturing the Hollywood of the their time, from costume to makeup to the lecherous studio bosses (here played by the great Stanley Tucci), Feud fell a little under the radar in a year overwhelmed with great television, but its message is timeless and topical: don’t ever underestimate a woman who is good at what she does, no matter how old she gets, because she’ll bite back.

9

The Deuce

Taking on 1970s New York City and the world of prostitution, creator David Simon’s latest for HBO is easily his best since The Wire. As its subject demands, it doesn’t flinch from showing a lot of skin and a lot of backstory behind the oldest profession in the world and how it fought to survive the infamous police crackdown of the period. Maggie Gyllenhaal finally gets a regular role that manages to showcase her unique charm, while James Franco challenges himself yet again as a pair of warring twins in what could be considered his best role since that time he was trapped between two mountains. Apologies to Tommy Wiseau.

8

The Good Place

Smoothly rolling into its second season this year, this sitcom is something different, even with the assured production skills of The Office‘s Michael Schur. With an effortlessly diverse and hilarious cast, including Ted Danson, Kristen Bell, William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil and Manny Jacinto, every character strikes an endearing and witty note; there are no foils to be found. Even though the characters are in The Bad Place, we root for Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jianyu because they bring viewers to The Good Place with their constant shenanigans. Each 23-minute episode is delightfully packed to the brim with one-liners and a sense of fantasy rarely seen in network comedies.

7

Chewing Gum

Born in the same British vein as Fleabag and Catastrophe, Chewing Gum is uniquely funny and not afraid to place the hilarity of real life on a pedestal. The series fell through the cracks this year but its two-season span deserves your attention, nonetheless. Creator Michaela Coel writes and stars in the series as 20-something Tracey, a virgin longing to dispose of her v-card. The only problem is that she’s super religious (she worships god and Beyoncé), as is her boyfriend. The show casually breaks the fourth wall, commenting on everything from race to sex. Take, for example, this laugh-out-loud one-liner, buried in an episode of many more, in which Tracey ruminates on kissing white men: “It’s just that they’ve got really small lips, and they can’t embrace the challenge of lips like mine, and then they try and compensate for their lack of lips with the tongue, and then the tongue ends up everywhere, just flapping around.”

6

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

A late in the year addition, Amy-Sherman Palladino’s latest series gets it right in just about every sense. Following the titular Midge Maisel, a perfect 1950s Manhattan housewife who stumbles into being an aspiring (and very funny) stand-up comic, each episode of the first season is consistently funny and tops the one before it — a rare feat. Nailing the requisite Sherman-Palladino charm, confidence and quick-witted dialogue, star Rachel Brosnahan is a must-see (having already picked up a Golden Globe nomination), as are Alex Borstein as her mentor/manager and Tony Shalhoub as her by-the-book father.

5

Big Little Lies

There are so many details that made Big Little Lies the most talked-about series of the year, from the music to the sweeping California views. But there are brains to this beauty, which featured a powerhouse cast, including Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz and, not to be outdone by his female counterparts, Alexander Skarsgard. Tackling domestic abuse, rape and class, the meat of this show went beyond the murder mystery at its core. With seven slick episodes, Witherspoon and Kidman co-produced a dessert of a show. And just when you thought you couldn’t have too much of a good thing with the series renewed for an ill-advised second season, there’s reason to keep faith: Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, American Honey) is set to direct each new episode in place of Jean-Marc Vallée, with David E. Kelley continuing writing duties.

4

American Gods

Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel American Gods has been long beloved, but like Stephen King’s The Stand, it’s never been considered prime for adapting. But leave it to super-producer Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies) to adapt it into this Amazon Prime series, lending it its own unique nuance, with stunning visuals, an unparalleled cast of character actors (including Ian McShane, Crispin Glover, Gillian Anderson and Kristin Chenoweth), and a willingness to test the boundaries of television when it comes to sex and violence. The series follows Shadow, a troubled man with a tortured past, recently released from prison, only to discover his wife has been killed. As he flies to the funeral, he finds himself seated next to a man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday, who warns him there is worse to come. Featuring countless diverse characters, each with their own substantial narrative, American Gods is fun but never chaotic, campy but never messy, and explicit but never exploitative.

3

Master of None

In its second season, Aziz Ansari’s Master of None feels more self-assured in just about every way, but most of all in its storytelling. Each episode feels cinematic, with references to everything from The Bicycle Thieves to L’Avventura. While paying homage to classic cinema, it manages to comment on topical issues ranging from the woes of online dating to sexual harassment at work. Key episodes that made waves and ignited many a cultural conversation include Lena Waithe’s masterful “Thanksgiving,” in which we see her settle into her sexuality over the years in the presence of her family; “New York, I Love You,” in which several narratives intersect in small but profound ways; and “Religion,” in which Ansari’s Dev introduces his cousin to pork (behind the backs of their disapproving parents).

2

Better Things

Pamela Adlon’s Better Things and its honest portrayal of how painful and sacred the relationship between mothers and daughters can be feels like a gift passed down through generations, because while its message of love is one we’ve heard before, it’s never felt so familiar. Having directed and starred in every episode this season, co-written with frequent partner Louis C.K. (who has been let go from the series since being accused of sexual misconduct), this remains very much a woman’s work. Quietly beautiful in every brushstroke, from the dynamic between Adlon’s Sam and her daughters to Sam and her friends, and Sam and her mother, Better Things dwells on the moments in everyday life that shape us. With such a goal in mind, nothing on television this year has felt so real.

1

The Leftovers

In its final season, The Leftovers accomplished something television rarely does: striking a chord so deep in its viewers as to leave them in tears by each episode’s end while questioning all of the choices that led them to where they are now and where they might be in the future. Its a program that forces its audience to ask a painful series of what ifs while simultaneously being entertained and engaged in a gripping plot and beautiful cinematography. In this sense, it is both an epic poem and a symphony of raw emotion, extracted not only from Tom Perrotta’s source novel and from the series writers, but from its cast. Carrie Coon, playing a mother who invests every iota of her energy into either finding her way back to her missing family or filling the void they’ve left, is a standout. She’s all nerve, much like the series itself. In the end, we realize The Leftovers wasn’t a meditation on religion, so much as it was an examination of belief, faith and hope in a broken world – timeless themes that feel especially relevant today. The Leftovers is not just the show of the year, but of the decade.